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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22710307">Just Like That</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/madamecrimson/pseuds/madamecrimson'>madamecrimson</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Anything Like That [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Watcher Entertainment, Watcher Entertainment (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Mutual Pining, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 13:55:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,220</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22710307</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/madamecrimson/pseuds/madamecrimson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>At first, Steven couldn't be sure that he'd heard right. After all, things are not necessarily what they appear unless one has all the information. But the closer he listened, the more he realized that it couldn't be anything else.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej, background Shane Madej and Sara Rubin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Anything Like That [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622158</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>77</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Just Like That</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Don't want to reveal what's going to happen but do notice the rating on this section has risen to "Explicit."</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Shane felt his breath catch and he fought to keep his expression consistent. Ryan's skin was warm under his fingers and Shane could feel Ryan's pulse racing beneath his thumbs. His eyes flicked to Ryan's mouth and he felt a wave of heat wash over him. He remained still, waiting for one of them to pull away, laugh this off as another bit. </p><p>When Shane would think about this moment later, the memory of who leaned in first was fuzzy at best. </p><p>Their lips met in a searing kiss, Shane's fingers tightening around Ryan's wrists. Ryan pressed himself against Shane, and Shane felt Ryan's tongue slip into his mouth. Years of pent up desperation flowed between them as Ryan ran his tongue along Shane's. It felt like it was all over too soon as they pulled apart for air, their breaths coming out in ragged pants. They avoided the other's gaze as Shane released Ryan's wrists, and the two stepped back from one another. After a beat of silence they headed in opposite directions, Ryan racing to the bathroom and Shane heading back to his desk. </p><p>Steven could barely look at Shane after he had heard what transpired between Shane and Ryan. Still though, he quickly glanced at Shane, and noted his cheeks were flushed and his lips looked plumped and swollen. He urgently texted Sara, acting toward Shane and Ryan as if he had no idea what had gone on. Ryan stepped back into the room, his face appearing slightly damp where he'd likely splashed cold water to calm himself down.</p><p>The rest of the day was abnormally quiet. There wasn't a shoot on the schedule and they were all largely caught up on editing so most of the staff would likely leave a bit early. On days like this, even though Steven, Ryan, and Shane would largely be focused on research, booking guests, finding locations and other similar tasks, there was normally a lot of conversation and joking back and forth. Steven found himself checking the time far more often than he normally did. Shane and Ryan mostly kept their eyes fixed on their screens, but Steven did notice one or the other stealing glances a bit here and there. He picked up his phone, texting Sara what happened. He'd wanted to do it earlier but it had slipped his mind in his efforts to appear inconspicuous.</p><p>From Steven: <i>So they kissed and now they aren't talking to each other.</i></p><p>From Sara: <i>OMG! They kissed? Do they know you saw them?</i></p><p>From Steven: <i>I didn't see them do it, I just heard them.</i></p><p>From Sara: <i>WTF!!! They did it loud enough that you could HEAR them?</i></p><p>From Steven: <i>No! They were just really close by when they did. The rest of the staff went home so it's just the three of us sitting in uncomfortable silence. The one time I didn't wish for a quiet day at the office!"</i></p><p>From Sara: <i>I really don't think they would care if you left before them.</i> </p><p>From Sara: <i>Oh! I know a way you could leave AND make them talk to each other again!</i></p><p>From Steven: <i>Okay? I'm listening.</i></p><p>From Sara: <i>Okay so this is kind of convoluted but given their sour puss moods, I think it'll work. First leave, then send this message (pretend you saw it on Reddit or something) in your guys' group chat:</i></p><p>From Sara: <i>"What if Bigfoot is a ghost?"</i></p><p>From Steven: <i>Oh that's genius!</i></p><p>From Sara: <i>&gt;:D</i></p><p>Steven shut down his computer and began packing up his stuff. Shane and Ryan still weren't talking. </p><p>"I'm heading off for today guys," he said as he stood. </p><p>Shane and Ryan mumbled their good byes and then Steven was out the door. He didn't want to push his luck so he waited until he got home to send the message Sara had recommended. </p><p>Some time later, Shane and Ryan heard their phones buzz. A break in the silence, they both noticed immediately, and picked up their phones to check their messages. </p><p>From Steven: <i>Saw this on Reddit, thought you guys might get a kick out of it!: What if Bigfoot is a ghost?</i></p><p>Shane and Ryan looked up at each other. </p><p>"Oh I know exactly how this would go," Ryan said, snark apparent in his voice. He then did a poor imitation of Shane. "A ghost? Well after reviewing the very convincing video evidence and hearing over thousands of stories, I can confirm he's fake!" </p><p>Shane frowned. "No, the person claiming he is a ghost would just be wrong." </p><p>"Okay, well what if they proved he was a ghost?" Ryan countered. </p><p>"Using the video footage and some stories?" Shane replied. </p><p>"You can't just do that!" Ryan returned. "You can't just downplay the evidence now that you're wrong!" </p><p>Shane rolled his eyes. "No, <i>they</i> would be wrong in concluding that Bigfoot is a ghost. People mistake bits of dust as ghosts all the time." </p><p>Ryan grabbed his phone and stood, charging toward Shane. </p><p>"You're seriously gonna tell me," Ryan began, pulling a picture on his phone. "That this," he said, holding up a screenshot of Bigfoot that came from the video he had dubbed to be the most credible. "Is more compelling than this?" he inquired, showing a screenshot from a video that had been taken at an abandoned hospital of a pale girl in Victorian clothing with long black hair and a frightening face. Ryan had shown Shane the video and said that there were hundreds of people who confirmed its authenticity, especially due to when the video was taken. </p><p>Shane gazed up at him pointedly. "In the Bigfoot video, you can clearly tell that that guy is way bigger than a gorilla suit. In the other video, it probably wouldn't be that hard to layer the footage so that it looked like it was from 19--"</p><p>"How?" Ryan interrupted. "How did they edit the video? Several video editing experts said there would be no way to fake that!" </p><p>"Oh "several" you say?" Shane returned sarcastically. </p><p>"So how come you assume the Bigfoot footage isn't fake?" Ryan said. </p><p>"I didn't <i>assume</i> anything. The Bigfoot footage just looks more believable," Shane said back. </p><p>"How exac--" Ryan cut off his own sentence, shrieking as a larger spider scurried across the floor.</p><p>Shane sighed, heading to the kitchen to grab a plastic cup and a paper plate. He placed the cup over the spider, slid the plate underneath it and let it outside. When he came back in, Ryan was fearfully glancing around the office, looking for more spiders. </p><p>"Ryan--" Shane began. </p><p>"Okay you can't tell me there's no more spiders in here. Neither of us know that," Ryan interrupted. </p><p>Shane shook his head, unable to help but smile a little. "He willingly goes to the spider infested "Island of the Dolls" and yet still pees himself over one little spider crawling across the floor." </p><p>"Okay first of all, that thing was <i>not</i> little, and second of all, we knew were going to leave the Island of the Dolls!" Ryan defended. Shane looked closely at him. Ryan still seemed scared. Unusually scared over something so small and not at all likely to be in as great numbers as they were at Island of the Dolls. </p><p>Shane stepped closer to Ryan, peering down at him. "Oh God Ryan, you didn't," Shane accused. </p><p>"Didn't what?" Ryan asked, looking up at him. </p><p>"Jake sent you more Australian insect documentaries didn't he?" Shane asked. </p><p>Ryan shifted slightly. "No!." </p><p>Shane quirked an eyebrow. "He didn't!" Ryan insisted. </p><p>"Dude, just because he sends them, doesn't mean you have to watch them," Shane replied. </p><p>"Maybe I decided to watch them on my own," Ryan said back, trying to make it less obvious how he was till searching. </p><p>"Ryan, spiders are more afraid of you than you are of them," Shane told him. </p><p>"No, spiders are more afraid of <i>you</i> than you are of them," Ryan stated. "They have eight small legs but you have two giant ones!" </p><p>"Well then aren't you lucky that I'm here to guard the office?" Shane returned. </p><p>They both looked at one another before they burst out laughing. They ended up laughing until they were hysterical, until tears were dripping out of their eyes and they were leaning against one another to not fall over. Once they had finally caught their breaths, Ryan's head was still against Shane's chest, and Shane still had a hand on Ryan's shoulder. Shane could his heart beating rapidly in his chest as he tried not to notice how warm Ryan's shoulder felt, how soft Ryan's hair was as it tickled the slightly exposed skin peeking out from where he had a button undone. He was waiting again. Waiting for one of them to brush this off. Waiting for one of them to laugh. Instead, he felt Ryan's hand tentatively move to rest on his back. Shane stifled a shiver as he felt goosebumps run up and down his arms. </p><p>He kept his hand on Ryan, but carefully moved it so that now his arm was wrapped around Ryan's waist. The motion lightly moved Ryan closer and Ryan slowly slid his up so that it came to rest on the back of Shane's neck. It wasn't clear who escalated things, but soon their lips were against each other's, Ryan's fingers coming to curl into Shane's hair, and Shane wrapping both arms around Ryan. With Ryan flush against him, Shane could feel the heat of his body, the hard, sculpted planes of his physique. Shane felt dizzy as he slipped his tongue into Ryan's mouth, holding back a moan as Ryan pressed his tongue along Shane's. One of them was leading the other one backward and soon they were on the Watcher Weekly couch, Ryan laying flat against it, with Shane on top of him. Shane dragged soft kisses along Ryan's jaw, feeling like electricity was shooting up his spine as Ryan's nails dug into his back. He moved his mouth along Ryan's neck, licking hungrily at the skin there before biting down lightly. Ryan let out a soft groan and the sound traveled straight to Shane's cock.</p><p>Shane ripped off Ryan's shirt, and Ryan was soon slipping Shane's off as well. Shane shuddered as he felt Ryan's bare chest against his own, hissing as he felt Ryan's lips against his neck. He curled his fingers in Ryan's hair, silently urging the younger man to take more from him. Ryan bit down roughly, and curses spilled from Shane's lips as he thrust forward against Ryan's thigh. The angle was slightly awkward with Shane being so tall, but need won out over practicality. Shane shifted so that he was better aligned with Ryan, and he shuddered as Ryan bucked his hips, bringing their clothed cocks together.</p><p>Shane ground against Ryan, the small, soft sounds that Ryan was making only spurring him on further. Ryan rolled his hips with just as much fervor, and then their lips were together again, kisses hot and hungry. Shane's hands wandered all over Ryan's body, his fingers taking in as much as they could and he relished at the way Ryan shivered under his touch. Ryan grasped at Shane's shoulders, at his hair, trying to pull him even closer. With a few more thrusts, Shane was spilling into this boxers and Ryan was soon to follow. They lay limp and spent against one another, their heavy breathing the only sound in the otherwise empty office. Shane bit the inside of his cheek as realization dawned on him. </p><p>This wasn't something they could take back. This wasn't something they could brush off. </p><p>After a few more moments, Shane rose to his feet, straightening his clothes and hair. He reached his hand toward Ryan, helping him up from the couch. Ryan took it and stood as well, taking a moment to fix his clothing. Shane's chest felt tight. He would normally cuddle with someone after this sort of thing both because he needed it and for the sake of the other person. However, even though he ached for it, he didn't feel able to. He stood there in silence with Ryan, neither of them looking at one another until they both wandered back toward their desks. Computers were turned off, bags were packed, everything was shut down for the day. No words were shared between them as they exited the building, heading for their respective cars, and driving to separate apartments. </p><p>Shane could feel the ache in his chest, the emptiness of having had Ryan so close for an instant, only for him to now be further than he had been before. He was terrified that he had permanently screwed up their friendship. When he stepped inside his apartment, Sara was already sitting on the couch waiting for him, a knowing look in her eyes. </p><p>Shane dragged himself to the couch and sat down next to her, his shoulders slumping as he let out a deep exhale. Sara began rubbing over his back, leaning her head against his arm. "Can I go ahead and ask or should I wait until you just "spontaneously" tell me?" she inquired. Her words were teasing, but her tone was sincere. Shane was quiet for a long time before he began to speak.</p>
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